Room 403 on the 5th floor of the North Campus, the night breeze on the balcony hits, and a few stars are as beautiful and brilliant as pearls in the dark night.

A tall, thin figure stood in front of the balcony, looking at the stars in the sky with his head half-tilted, as if listening to beautiful music, sometimes shaking his head and sometimes closing his eyes and smiling. His name is Yang Zhou and he is from the imperial capital. On his left hand side is a 300 mm Newtonian reflecting telescope, the tube is silvery-white, made of aluminum alloy, and the small triangular bracket drags the long tube steadily, looking out at the Milky Way like a funny short-legged alien.

Pan Tianyi approached the dormitory gently, and the other roommates had not yet returned, and they seemed very quiet. He stood quietly on the balcony and looked in the direction where the mirror tube was pointing, and there were three brighter stars in the southern sky, namely Tianjin Fourth, Cowherd Star, and Vega Star.

"Pan Tianyi, look at the telescope I bought from the Internet!" Yang Zhou heard the sound and returned to reality from his distant imagination, his face full of joy.

"I've never seen a telescope with such a large aperture, can you use it to observe and enjoy the starry sky?" With deep envy and curiosity, Pan Tianyi tried to ask.

"Absolutely! This is something my father bought for me abroad, some spare parts are not available in China, you can be careful! Yang Zhou was both excited and worried.

"No problem!" Pan Tianyi dispelled his concerns, "What does your father do?" I envy you! Pan Tianyi carefully held the telescope and looked at the distant stars with his eyes on the barrel.

"My father worked in high-energy physics at CERN for almost 20 years, but he never published a significant paper in his core work. It is said that it is difficult for Chinese scientists to be trusted by foreign institutions, and some core high-energy physics experiments are not allowed to be contacted at all! So no matter how outstanding your academic papers are, you won't get the opportunity to verify them in scientific practice......" Yang Zhou said more and more angry, "China has also invested a lot of money in the European nuclear research project, and due to the strict technological blockade and racial prejudice against our country, these huge capital investments are black holes with no return." My father and a group of scientists of Chinese descent are preparing to return to China to try to explore the feasibility of implementing a high-energy particle accelerator. ”

"Then your father is really a great scientist, it is the hope of the motherland and the people to return to the motherland for development and contribute his strength and wisdom to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation!" Pan Tianyi put down the observation and turned his head to look at Yang Zhou on the side, only to see that his face was full of joy and longing.

"By the way, what did you see with your telescope, did you observe the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus?" Yang Zhou changed the topic and looked at Pan Tianyi excitedly.

"Seeing a few bright stars, is there anything special about them?" Pan Tianyi was puzzled, "Among them, the Cowherd and Vega are more familiar, and when I was a child, I heard my mother tell me about their beautiful legends. ”

"If you look at the three stars in the sky, Tianjin is located at the tail of the constellation Cygnus, and is connected with a few brighter stars, which is the long neck of the constellation Cygnus, which faces from east to west, and its head seems to fall towards the northwestern horizon; Perpendicular to this line are a few brighter stars, the wings of the constellation Cygnus, and Vega on the upper side of its wings. Yang Zhou explained his cognition to Pan Tianyi in detail.

"Hearing you say that, I seem to be able to distinguish the constellation Cygnus" Pan Tianyi quietly observed the starry sky there, and the corners of his mouth slightly showed a raised smile, "These nebulae seem to be pregnant with tens of thousands of stars, I don't know which star systems exist in extraterrestrial civilizations......" Pan Tianyi inexplicably popped up an idea.

"Extraterrestrial civilization, human scientists have not discovered it yet," Yang Zhou pondered for a moment, "but the Harvard Astronomical Telescope has observed in the Cygnus region that there are about a hundred stars with planets orbiting them. Among them, the star Xi Zhongsi is a three-star system, about 70 light-years away from the Earth, where there is a terrestrial planet Gliese, which is almost the same mass as Jupiter in the solar system, and it is in the habitable zone of the star, which is likely to be suitable for human settlement. ”

"But how did humans migrate? Voyage has been in the solar system for almost 40 years and hasn't gotten out of the Oort cloud yet? Pan Tianyi carefully observed the open star cluster there, and his face showed a strange surprise, "I found several strange planetary nebulae and several supernova explosion debris in the Cygnus region!" Maybe there was a flicker of civilization there! When I was a child, I heard my mother say that the Heavenly Emperor and the Queen Mother were angry and drew a line between the Vega Star and the Cowherd Star, blocking the love marriage between the Cowherd and the Celestial Maiden! That line may be the supernova explosion that produces a neutron star, and the neutron star's polar gamma-ray bursts swept across the void, destroying the two advanced civilizations in that star region! Become a starry sky ...... dust"

Pan Tianyi's mood fluctuated for a moment, and turned into a hoarse low.

"Dude! You've got a big brain! Yang Zhou was amazed, looked at the thin boy in front of him, and felt a trace of admiration, "According to what you say, human civilization is indeed very small and humble in the universe. If an extraterrestrial malicious civilization comes to invade the earth, then human beings will respond with the current scientific and technological strength, and I am afraid that it will not even be as good as the insects in the eyes of aliens! ”

Yang Zhou looked at the deep space with a blank and frightened expression, this time without his previous reverie and smile.

"Haha, it's been a pleasure to communicate with you, maybe we're thinking too far too far. Let's live the present and do our duty well! Leave those questions to the United Nations Defense Center to consider......" Pan Tianyi laughed, showing an inexplicable affection for Yang Zhou.

"Tianyi, if human beings one day achieve interstellar travel, how can we determine our coordinates in the starry sky in the vast universe?" Yang Zhou looked at the night sky blankly, "On the large scale of the Milky Way and even the Andromeda Galaxy, if it is easy to go out, then returning and finding the earth in the Milky Way is really like the number of sand in the Ganges River is difficult to measure and find!" ”

"Just like the first great age of human discovery, we need courage to explore the unknown" Pan Tianyi looked at the lights on the roof of the building in the distance, and his thoughts seemed to touch the depths of consciousness, "Perhaps, a lighthouse needs to be built in the sea!" ”

"If a neutron star generates a strong magnetic field on its own, it will rotate and form intermittent pulse waves, which is the lighthouse effect of pulsars!"

Yang Zhou once again stared at the starry sky with his delightful gaze, as if a small boat sailing in the sea suddenly had a direction.

"Star Lighthouse!"

"Yes, all pulsars in the Milky Way have a stable rotation period, and their coordinates and positions are stored in a computer database, so that the spacecraft has established an interstellar navigation and positioning system, and there are many lighthouses in the vast Milky Way! In the future, human beings on Earth will no longer be bound by confusion......"

Yang Zhou seemed to have a deep understanding, and wrote a string of words on his notepad: China Tianyan Fast Project and my mission.

In October 2008, China's Tianyan Fast project entered the preliminary design stage, and received strong support from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

"That's right, Pan Tianyi. Next month, our school is preparing to hold the National College Mecha Master Competition, and our intelligent mecha master club has begun to prepare for the preliminary selection, so every member of the club has a long way to go, do a good job in learning professional knowledge and strengthening the practice of skills. Yang Zhou walked to the coffee machine in the dormitory and filled two cups, one of which was handed to Pan Tianyi.

"Thank you!" Pan Tianyi thanked, "I heard a few days ago that our school has not been able to win the championship in the past three years, and it is many places behind the universities in the same province!" ”

"Yes, you're right, the school's reputation outside the school in the past two years has not been recognized by the society!" Yang Zhou felt the same way, "I heard Senior Zhang Yanan say that the school leaders attach great importance to this year's National College Mecha Master Competition, and specially invited artificial intelligence AI expert Professor Boris from abroad. It is said that he has served as a robot tactical deduction consultant in a military organization in Western Europe, and he has a lot of experience in mecha combat skills. Later, I met my father by chance and asked him many questions about high-energy materials and nuclear energy. Because their own country was caught in the middle of the political rivalry between the great powers, the division of the nation quickly spread with the development of war and conflict. He hated war so much, and it almost cost him his beautiful home and lovely relatives! So he came to country C with a heart of peace and hope to seek stable development, hoping that one day he could save his chaotic country in his own way. ”

"Well, I seem to have known him a few days ago, and I have his business card" Pan Tianyi happily took out a thin business card and handed it to Yang Zhou to show him, "Does Professor Boris have any hobbies?" I'll have a chance to visit him another day. ”

"You are so lucky that God favors you! Although my father and he were old friends, I had only met him in person, let alone a business card. Yang Zhou habitually scratched the back of his head with his hand self-deprecatingly, looking helpless.

"Why does Professor Boris care about high-energy materials and nuclear energy?" Pan Tian pondered, "Could it be that he has encountered some problems in terms of mechas?" ”

"Hehe, the current artificial intelligence technology is only in its infancy," Yang Zhou squinted his coffee lightly and said, "The unmanned tanks on the battlefield, and the energy required by other artificial intelligence, all come from electromagnetic energy!" But these are also enough to satisfy the mecha power energy system. If a miniature controllable nuclear fusion energy device is installed on a mecha, now mankind is wishful thinking! ”

"In the future, maybe it can be realized......

Pan Tianyi looked at the triangular star region on the autumn night sky, silent; Gently blow the coffee foam in the cup and take a sip to taste, bitter mixed with a hint of sweetness.

The noisy and frolicking sound of the dormitory corridor broke the temporary silence of the dormitory.

Geng Qiankun walked into the dormitory with a pair of glasses and a smile, followed by a fat man Li Zhengjian.

"What a feast for your eyes tonight, guess what's going on in our school?" Li Zhengjian looked at Yang Zhou and Pan Tianyi with a thief smile on his face and said.

"Shhhh

Geng Qiankun hurriedly stopped Li Zhengjian from making the news public, "The fewer people who know about this matter, the better, so that we can have multiple competitors in the future and have fewer opportunities!" ”

"Come on, don't be narcissistic!"

Li Zhengjian was dismissive of his narcissism, "There are only a few people in our dormitory, none of them are outsiders, I am most happy to share this beautiful thing!" ”

"Well, then you tell them"

Geng Qiankun snorted and turned around, looked at it with a small mirror, stroked his long hairstyle, and admired himself.

"Look at ......" Li Zhengjian excitedly took out his widescreen mobile phone, "This foreign girl is beautiful, isn't it, I captured it in the café tonight!" ”

"You're starting to fool around again? This is clearly a character wallpaper downloaded from the game! ”

Pan Tianyi glanced at his mobile phone cursoryly: "Like that Holy Light Elf, the day before yesterday he said that he was like our class counselor, so you can continue to talk nonsense!" ”

Yang Zhou walked over and carefully looked at the photos on his mobile phone: "I didn't expect that foreign girls also look so smart and beautiful!" I haven't seen it before! ”

"Look, I said Pan Tianyi, you still don't believe it!"

Li Zhengjian said anxiously, "It is said that as long as we join the Foreign Students Exchange Association, we will have the opportunity to become her companions!" In other words, there is a better chance to get in touch with this beautiful girl, and even develop her into your own girlfriend! Haha......"

"Gotcha, look at your bewildered bear-like look!"

Geng Qiankun interjected unconvinced, "In addition to you, we all have the opportunity to become her boyfriend in our dormitory." ”

"Okay, how do you sign up for that club?"

Yang Zhou was a little curious, "Pan Tianyi and I really want to blend into the circle of foreign students, communicate more, and improve our spoken English...... Huh"

"It's very simple, brother, I have information and methods!"

Li Zheng looked at Yang Zhou with a smile when he saw bad intentions, and a few black spots on his face seemed to jump a few times, "Tomorrow night, accompany me to team up to play an all-night game and win the other party!" I'll take you to participate in that SICA exchange association and soak in more foreign girls! Haha......"

"Okay!"

"Brother obeys you!"

"It's a deal!"